It is known that disk drives consume in excess of 90% of the power needed by a storage array. With computer data storage systems becoming increasingly large, there is a need to monitor power consumption of disk array storage subsystems, and to receive feedback on the effectiveness of power-saving strategies available in the array management application. One approach is to design storage arrays around hardware having built-in capabilities for power monitoring and optimization. However, such hardware may add significant cost to the storage array and, since low-power considerations for storage arrays are relatively recent, such components may not be readily available.
Generally, the power consumption of disk drives under various conditions such as reading and writing, and idling, as examples, are known, and are readily available from the manufacturers thereof.